Mirai
by sabotouri
Summary: When Saito's daughter goes missing and the police have no leads and only forty eight hours to find her before it's too late, he has no choice but to go deep.
1. Prologue

**Mirai (N.)-Miracle or Future**

* * *

Since the inception, Saito hadn't dreamed. He slept little, not that that was any different from before, and the sleep he did get was empty. His reality was fine; the Fischer job was his first and only foray into shared dreaming, so the paranoia that came with the territory hadn't set in.

Since the inception, Saito hadn't dreamed and so when he awoke and found his daughter missing, blood on the ransom note, he knew she was gone.

He searched the entire compound, hoping it was just some cruel prank, even though the sick feeling in his stomach confirmed what he already dreaded: Mirai was nowhere to be found.

Completing his second complete loop, Saito began to panic. He called his head of security first, then the police and finally, her mother.

Aiko wasted no time dissolving into hysterics, a trait Saito hadn't missed at all. He tried to soothe her, to reassure her that Mirai was top priority for the police, but Aiko couldn't be calmed ("Or rather wouldn't", he thought bitterly).

Four hours had passed since he went to check on her; it was well past midnight and she should have been sleeping. When he saw the light on underneath her door, he'd been ready to ground her for a week and take her computer away.

He noticed as soon as he opened the door that something wasn't right. The books on her shelf were all lopsided, something his obsessive sixteen year old wouldn't have allowed. Her drapes fluttered against the open window, something else that was out of character; Mirai hated the humidity.

Saito knocked on the bathroom door, closed, and waited. That's when he saw the note, taped to the television screen, written in her small, tidy handwriting.

"Thirty million Yen. 4 PM. We will not negotiate."

There was blood smeared across the corner and he felt sick. There was nothing, no way of knowing who they were, where they were, if Mirai was hurt or scared.

His head of security, Mr. Kai, and police chief sat him down, told him that the first forty-eight hours were their best chance at finding her and asked if he knew anyone who would want to hurt his daughter.

"Mirai? No. Now myself, that is another story," he answered, running his hands over his face and through his hair.

"Saito," Chief Higa said gently, "is there _anyone _you can think of? A business competitor, a snubbed family member, anybody?"

"The men I deal with are crooks and philanderers, but they're not criminals."

Chief Higa and Mr. Kai exchanged looks, before excusing themselves to the other room, both patting Saito's shoulder on the way out. He watched them go, before pulling his phone and sending a simple e-mail.

"I need your help."

Six thousand miles, across the Pacific ocean, Dom Cobb's phone vibrated in a small circle on his kitchen table.


	2. 1

**Monday, 9 PM, Los Angeles**

Cobb was none too thrilled when his phone went off just as he was sitting down to finish dinner; James and Phillipa had had an absolute meltdown when he'd set their plates in front of them, a screaming fit that turned into tears at the mention of Mommy. His attempts to appease them turned into punishment when James aimed a kick at his father's knee, missing, and sending Cobb to the ground in pain. He'd sent them both to bed, without dinner, and shut the glass double doors to the dining room, already filled with remorse.

He could hear Mal's sweet voice, telling him that he did the right thing, that she would have done the same and for a second, he swore she was sitting across from him. He was jarred out of his reverie as his phone began to vibrate in a small circle. Groaning, he grabbed it and opened the e-mail he had just received, shocked not only because it was from Saito, but also because he hadn't given his e-mail to anybody that didn't already have it.

"I need your help."

He was ready to say no immediately, to tell Saito that he was out, done, and that he had nothing to offer him, when a bit on the news caught his ear.

"Reports from Tokyo are suggesting that Saito, CEO of Proclus Global, may be the third world business leader to fall prey to kidnapping. Though authorities aren't yet calling it a kidnapping investigation, those close to the family say that his daughter-"

Kidnapping? Cobb was numb. He didn't know Saito had children and he certainly didn't know that he was so powerful or controversial that someone would want to kidnap his child to get to him.

He had arrived in the doorway to Phillipa's room without even realizing he was moving. She was tucked underneath her white and pink comforter, reading a book and smiled a small smile with her dad appeared.

"Hi Daddy," she said. "I'm sorry-"

"No, baby, don't be sorry." He sat on the floor next to her bed, hugging his daughter tightly. "Hey, I need to ask you something, okay?"

"Okay."

"I might need to go stay with Grandma and Grandpa for a while, just a few days, would that be okay?"

Phillipa frowned, shaking her head no. "You just got home, Daddy. I don't want you to leave again."

His heart was breaking. She was trying her hardest not to cry and he couldn't help but see Mal in her, her arms crossed over her jammied chest, her hair wild, breaking loose from the ponytail holder.

"Sweetheart, a friend of mine, his daughter has gone missing. She was taken from him and I think I can help him get her back. If someone took you, I would ask for his help."

"Why would someone take us?" she asked, her voice scared. Two fat tears had slipped down her cheeks. Cobb picked his baby up, pulling her into his lap and kissed her head. "Daddy, is that going to happen?"

"No, honey. But there are bad people in the world and sometimes bad things happen, even when we don't want them to."

"Like Mommy?"

He didn't know if she meant that Mal was a bad person or if a bad thing had happened to her, but it was too much.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Phillipa, if you don't want me to go, I won't."

She nodded, letting Cobb put her back into bed and tuck her in. He felt dreadful, sad for Saito, sad for children and, more than anything, trapped.

"I love you. Goodnight." He flipped the light switch next to her bed and had almost made it to the door when she called out to him.

"Daddy?"

"What, honey?"

"If you don't help your friend find his daughter, then who will?"

Cobb sighed and turned back to face Phillipa. He shook his head.

"I don't know."

He checked on James, already fast asleep, and then went back to the dining room, dialing Arthur as he walked.

"This is Arthur."

"Did you see the piece on the news about Saito's daughter?"

"Saito has a daughter?"

Cobb leaned against the kitchen counter, still littered with dinner mess, and sighed, nodding.

"Yeah and she's missing, they're saying kidnapped. I got an e-mail from him, asking for my help."

"And?"

"I didn't say anything yet. I ran it past Phillipa first."

"What did the boss say?"

"She was understandably against it, completely. I just don't know. I keep thinking, what if? What if the tables were turned?"

"You wouldn't ask Saito for help if Phillipa and James went missing, Cobb, because he has no help to offer you."

"Yeah, but we can help him, maybe."

The line was silent for a minute.

"We?"

"I'm sorry."

"Cobb, if you want to get involved with real life bad guys, that's your business. I won't tell you no. But if you're going to get me into it too, at least ask me first before forging my signature. Again."

Cobb sighed again, running his hand over his face.

"Let me ask you this," Arthur said. "Do you have a time limit?"

"I don't know. I don't know anything about, but I would imagine so. There's probably a ransom."

"If there's a time limit, can you perform?"

"Maybe."

Silence again, this time for longer. He heard muffled talking, then Arthur.

"Look, we'll be there in a few hours. Figure out what you're going to do."

"We?"

"Ariadne and myself. You're not the only person who was on vacation."

The line went dead and Cobb allowed himself a smirk, before heading to his computer and Googling the case.

There wasn't much to be found, just that she had been reported missing a little less than two hours ago and that Japanese authorities had nothing to go off of except a ransom note. Obviously, the details of the note were not disclosed to the public.

Proclus Global had released a statement, on behalf of Saito, saying that they were saddened by the developments and would do everything they could to aid in Mirai's return. Attached to the statement was a picture of Saito and his daughter.

Mirai. She had a name, a face, and suddenly the gravity of the situation hit him. He had to help, to go against Phillipa's wishes. Cobb e-mailed Miles and Justine first, hoping they were awake, before responding to Saito.

"We will be there as soon as we can."


End file.
